Invective
Noun. Insulting or abusive language.
Our house backs up to another house in the neighborhood. One evening, I was outside on the back porch drinking a lemonade and reading Harry Potter. Mom was inside, making dinner, chatting on the phone, the usual. Then I heard some shouting. At first I couldn’t tell where the shouting was coming from. I put my book down and walked toward the back wooden fence. I had to squeeze through some shrubs, and then I peeped through one of the thin slats of the fence. I could see a man standing over a kid, maybe a boy my age or slightly older. The kid was sitting on a lawn chair, his head in his hands, as this man–his father?–let loose with a tirade that was full of invective (including many cuss words that Mom probably thinks I don’t know). I knew spying was bad, so I backed away and walked back to the house and went inside, where I wouldn’t have to hear anymore shouting.
